The Canadian lawyer criticised that sportspeople were being held liable for the decisions of their national Governments.

"The way they are treated is not fair," McLaren said in comments reported by Sportschau.

"The athletes did not start this conflict and are not responsible for its course.

"Those are two good reasons to let them participate again."

McLaren's comments come after the majority of Olympic International Federations (IFs) followed an International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendation to bar Russian and Belarusian athletes from events outright.

The International Judo Federation and International Tennis Federation are among a select few IFs allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals.

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and at least 12 of the country's National Federations (NFs) have filed appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), while another nine NFs have appealed internally within their respective IFs against the bans.

"As long as the conflict lasts, the international sports community will not change the decision it has made," McLaren added to Sportschau.

"Should the CAS decide in favour of the athletes, the associations would be forced to let them compete again.

"That is completely open."

The 77-year-old is not known to be an ally of Russian sport after his eponymous report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), helped to uncover a state-sponsored doping programme in the country.

The McLaren Report found that the Sochi Laboratory operated a unique sample-swapping methodology to enable doped Russian athletes to compete at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games and that the Ministry of Sport controlled the manipulation of athletes' analytical results with assistance from both the Moscow Laboratory and Sochi establishment.

The findings, which were released in two parts in July and December 2016, led to Russia being suspended from all international athletics competitions, including at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Russian athletes were also banned from the 2016 Paralympics.

However, the IOC allowed Russia to compete under its own flag at Rio 2016, with individual IFs given the responsibility for choosing the rules for their sport.

That was the last Olympic Games Russia's flag has been seen at, as it was banned from Pyeongchang 2018, Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 as punishment for the doping programme and a subsequent cover-up.

Neither the ROC or National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus have been suspended by the IOC, and no action has been taken against Russian IOC members.

Officials from both countries have also largely retained their standing in sport, including participating in Congresses of FIFA, the International Skating Union and the International Boxing Association (IBA) among others.

Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov has stepped aside as President of the International Fencing Federation in the wake of European Union sanctions, but Russians remain in charge of the IBA and International Shooting Sport Federation.

McLaren's comments come days after Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Huttsait urged IFs to continue to ban Russian athletes until the invasion stops.